Oh Come All Ye Faithful
by Feigned Song
Summary: Rating may change. Remus' parents died when he was five. he and his brother were sent to an orphanage where they spent a year before being adopted. They stayed only a month because of certain events. They were sent back, and adopted again soon after, when
1. Default Chapter

Hey all. I'm sorry to say i've hit writers block on TDRL, but here's another piece of angst for all of you. Characters are not mine, they're JKR's. Never said they were, so don't sue me. The characters you don't recognize are most likely mine. I also admit to not being one of the best typists on earth, so if you see a typo, drop me a note. It'll be fixed. On the same note, I love reviews! They inspire me! So, be kind, though I know it's a pain. I myself hate writing them. Heh. Enough of my rambling and onto the story!  
  
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Chapter One: The Orphanage  
  
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I hate Sundays. I mean, I really hate them with a passion. Wednesday nights, too. But now I'm getting ahead of my story. Far ahead of it. in order for you to understand me, and I mean really know what's going on, I'll have to start from the very beginning. From the start of all. I won't be able to leave anything out, because I need to get it off of my chest now, or forever hold my peace. My counselor says this, that I hold too much in. It is only under his insistance that I write this. Perhaps you won't understand or approve some of my actions or decisions, but you must understand that at most of the times, I felt I had no other decisions. Besides, this is not made for you to judge me. This is made for you to know who I am, or perhaps even what I am. For you to perhaps understand a few more of my present decisions. So read on, this is...perhaps you'd say...for your viewing pleasure.   
  
The beginning, ah the trivialities of it all! Well, the beginning...My name is Remus Johanus Lupin, I have an older brother that goes by Romulus Telari Lupin. My parents died when I was five years old, he was ten. That's when all the trouble began. We had no other living relatives that were known, so we were shipped off to an orphanage. You know those places where stink rules over all, that are overcrowded, overly noisy? Yes, that's where I spent a year of my life. I'd simply glaze over this part, if it didn't help emphasise that things would get worse, afterall, we tend to realize the things that hurt us the most are the very things that we cling to to remember ourselves for who we are. So, I suppose this is where the story truly begins. Forgive me for leading you to believe otherwise.   
  
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Orphanage - June 24, 1965 - March 27, 1966   
  
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The smell of rot crawled over my senses as I entered the small building. The noise was incredible, it overwhelmed me with the sheer suddenness of it all. I clung to the hand of my brother, Romulus, as he was the only lifeline of familiarity I had. Where was Mama? Where was Papa? Who was the strange lady that had taken us away, and why were we here with all these strange people? I wanted to go home! I wanted them to leave me alone! I wanted Mama and Papa.   
  
I shrank away from the gazes of the other children, something about them intimidated me. I had always been small and lithely built for my age. Romulus told me that my father often compared me to a female because of my lithe frame. It was noticeable even when I was that young. "Shh, Remus. They're not going to hurt you." Romulus said quietly to me, though i could tell by his voice that they disturbed him too. We followed a woman into a bedroom that was deserted. Fifteen beds were lined up with no more than an inch of room between them. Each had a trunk in front of it.   
  
"You'll be staying in here. Those two beds." the strange woman stated, motioning to the two beds with our own trunks in front of them. She had a cold voice, a harsh voice that frightened me. Romulus didn't like her voice either. He squeezed harder on my hand as she spoke, then let go as soon as she had left. He slipped his hand from mine and walked over to the bed with his trunk, sitting down and putting his head in his hands. He began to cry, quietly. Ashamed of having to. I had never seen him cry before.   
  
The sight of Romulus crying broke me, sent everything that had happened in the past few days crashing down on me. Mama wasn't coming back. Neither was Papa. They were gone. They left us to stay in this stinky place. I crawled towards romulus, climbing on his lap, and I too, began to sob into his shoulder. As a matter of fact, I cried myself to sleep.  
  
***  
  
When I woke up, it was morning. I was in a bed. What bed was this? Where was I that the sun dappled onto my face so gently, yet the smell was enough to nauseate me? I sat up slowly, still fully dressed from the night before. ROmulus was in the bed beside me, still asleep. So were a lot of other boys, most of them older than me. Who were all of them? Perhaps it was odd that I felt so utterly alone in a room with so many people, but that's how it was.  
  
It was about a half hour before others were up. Eager to introduce themselves, and I was glad to be accepted so easily. The day was full of introductions, most of the boys and girls simply gave their name then ran off. I of course, preferred to stay with Romulus. At least until Nikolas came. He was cheerful, bright, and only a year older than me. He would become my best friend in the time I was in the oprhanage. He was a bit tall, and had black hair. Green eyes. Amazing how even now I remember the details about him so vividly, even when so much else flits away from my grasp.   
  
I had clung to Romulus almost relentlessly, whether it was to his hand that I clung or to his leg. I was like his shadow, and I played the role quite well that first day. We were walking around the area with all the toys - a dirty room that you had to watch every step lest you fall.   
  
"Why are chu hanging onto him like that?" I heard the voice as I felt someone poke me in the back. I let go of Romulus' hand and turned around, looking to see who it was. It was Nikolas, though I didn't know it at that time.  
  
"I-I'm afraid. I don't like it here." I replied slowly, forcing a faint smile as I spoke.   
  
"Don'tchu worry. I been here since I wasth really ickle. They don't hurt you. Justh don't get taken out by the people that come. Some of'em are meeeean." he warned, giving a nod of assurance. I couldn't help but give a light laugh at his antics.   
  
"Why do you say that the people are bad?" I had long been taught to speak properly, if I was going to speak at all. As such...I hadn't started speaking until just recently, but I had skipped over most of the gibberish.  
  
"Because that's what they say." his voice had dropped to a confidention whisper. I tilted my head slightly, confused by this. I never even had time to realize that Romulus had slipped away.   
  
Despite my original distaste for the place, the orphanage became my home. I became attatched to it and its wretched smell, it's odd people, the doting nurses. It became too familiar. The routine became familiar too. Wake up, Monday through Fridays get dressed and attend the overcrowded supposedly classrooms, share a book with five people nearby, if there were books at all. It was routine. On Saturdays and Sundays do what I wanted.  
  
It wasn't beautiful, or fancy, but nothing I ever had was. It was home. As they say, home is where the heart is, and throughout the next five years, my heart would remain with the orphanage, as I never found it in my heart to forgive my parents for leaving. Even today I resent them for the hell they sent me through, but that is not until the next part of my life.   
  
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To Be Continued 


	2. Adopted, Part One

*hugs her two reviewers* Thank you! Very much appreciated! Not one to ramble on much, so straight into the story. Also...If you think I should change the rating, tell me so. I'm bad at judging that.  
  
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Chapter Two: The First Adoption, Part One  
  
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Adopted - March 27, 1966 - July 15, 1966  
  
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The rain pattered ceaselessly upon the roof and sidewalk outside of the building, the sky was a dull gray. It was a saturday, I remember. Most of the others were playing in the playroom, but I wasn't. Neither was Nikolas. Not by choice of course. We'd placed a frog in one of the toy chests. Needless to say, all hell had broken loose among the girls. It was priceless. How they screamed! Oh, how much the looks on their faces had been worth it! I believe that every time I thought of it, I began to laugh quietly. I didn't mind sitting out in the least. It was one of the rainy days, and I loved watching the rain even then.  
  
Due to this, I was the first one to see the car drive up. A dirty old thing, it really didn't look like it would last any long or strenuous trips. It wasn't one of the workers, probably a family looking to adopt. Great, as if we needed more of those. Why wouldn't we all just stay? Several of the kids that were taken had been sent back either way. I continued watching the car, more curious as to the inhabitants of the broken down thing than anything else. The first to step out was a female holding a black umbrella above her head. She had pale skin, unbelievably thin with blonde hair falling to her shoulders. I didn't like her from the instant she came into sight. The next to step out was a man, her husband as I suspected at the time and was later to be proven correct. He was tall, scarily tall, or at least it seemed, but I was also incredibly small at the time. From what I saw, he had black hair that was clipped severely. He rather scared me, even from a distance. They seemed to talk a moment, but I couldn't hear. In unison, they shut their doors and made their way to the front door of the orphanage.  
  
Shortly after they arrived, I was ushered out into the main room with Nikolas and allowed to wander and do as I wished. Immediatly, I went over to Romulus, not wanting him to get picked by these people and leave me behind. Sure they were scary, but life without Romulus was even worse. He was reading in one of the corners of the room. After a bit of persuasion, or rather me bothing him until he gave in, he began to read it aloud to me.   
  
We had gone through maybe three pages when the man and woman came out of the main office with the one that watched us. They tried to walk about and watch all of the children unnoticed, but as with everytime someone came, everything had fallen silent. All eyes followed the two as they looked about, pausing and talking to some children every so often. I did my best to ignore them and listen to Romulus, but couldn't manage it. I was busy silently willing them to go away, to stay away from Romulus and I. To pass us by without a second glance. No such luck.  
  
"Hello there." the woman bent down in front of us. She had a voice like honey coated venom, sweet on the outside but holding danger. The man stood behind her, watching with a light smile.  
  
"Good evening, Madame." Romulus greeted with a faint nod and smile. I remained silent, though scooted closer to him subconciously.   
  
"What are your names?" she questioned. Her voice scared me. I didn't like it one bit. I didn't like her.  
  
"I'm Romulus, this is Remus." Romulus continued to do all the talking, motioning to me as he spoke my name.   
  
"A pleasure to meet you both. The Roman twins of myth?" she questioned. Romulus nodded in reply. "Well, would you like to come home with us? You are the most polite of the children we've talked to." she smiled.  
  
"Of course, Madame!" Romulus said quickly, grinning from ear to ear. I looked at him pitifully. He mistook it for me asking him to take us both. "Both of us, right?" he added.  
  
"Of course." she nodded. It was too easy. Why had she chosen us so quickly? It couldn't have been for our manners. You didn't pick some strange people to be your kids just because they had manners. Inwardly I paniced, but Romulus was overjoyed to have been chosen. I didn't want to ruin it for him, so I didn't say anything. Why didn't he see them for what they were? What were they? I didn't know, but I knew it couldn't be good.  
  
"Then go pack up your stuff. You'll leave with us today." she smiled, looking back to her husband as she stood up. He nodded in approval as they both made their way back to the worker.  
  
Romulus was on his feet in an instant, running to the room that was ours. I followed slowly, frowning. How could he be so happy when these people were so...bad feeling? As soon as I entered the room, Romulus looked over to me and grinned again.  
  
"We were picked! We're going to a home where they'll care for us! We'll actually have parents again, Remus! Parents!" He was practically bouncing. That wasn't typical for my level-headed brother.  
  
"Yes...we'll have parents." I replied, doing my best to sound cheerful. Apparently he was too happy to notice if my performance was a little off. Back then, I wasn't good at acting. By the time I was eleven, I was a master at hiding things and feelings, but of course, that's later.   
  
I piled my things back into my trunk slowly, listening to Romulus going on about having parents all the while. Maybe I was just paranoid, I thought, maybe it was just that I had grown too comfortable in the small building with all the other children. It was maybe two hours later that we stepped into the car that would take us to our new home. Our new home, and perhaps where we both lost our innocence.  
  
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To Be Continued 


	3. Adopted Part Two

I just realized that I left you all on a bit of a cliffhanger there. *dies* I'll eternally beg your pardon for that. Things just got really busy over here. Of coruse I'm updating everything today, so you can't stay mad at me, can you? *scratched head* So yeah, enough of my rambling. You want the story to start. *scuttles off and pushes muses to front stage*  
  
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Oh Come all Ye Faithful  
  
Adopted - Part Two  
  
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The rain still ran down the car windows, the squeak of the windshield wiper grating on Remus' ears as the car trudged slowly along the road. Romulus' ceaseless chattering had ceased some time ago. It was a long road home, but Remus couldn't find the trust in himself to sleep, as Romulus had done. He knew something was wrong. It was several hours into the car ride before the man peered back behind towards me. Something in his eyes terrified me.  
  
"Remus Mollier. That's your new name. Forget you ever lived as Remus Lupin. That life is gone. You are ours now." his voice was hard and cold, almost like steel. What had happened to the cheerful, happy people that we had met before? Had they left? No...they had never been there in the first place. He had known it. Remus had not. All he could do in reply was nod mutely.  
  
"And don't think you're going to go out on the streets and have fun like a happy little seven year old. You have a job that you must take to daily. Not as much -fun- as your brother's, of course, but still. Your time will come." the man smirked once again, then turned around. Everything fell silent once again as we drove on. More that before the fear boared into him. What did they mean by job? What could he possibly do? Sure he could read and write and spell, but he hardly understood any math or science. He was too small to go anywhere on his own. Maybe he could get away with pretending to be mute again.  
  
The rain. That was something Remus would always remember. He had always loved the rain. He'd always been a part of it. It had always prooved his sanctuary in times of need. He closed his eyes and let the rain fall down all around.  
  
The car stopped in front of an old house. It looked more like a cabin. It was about as homely as a box. The grass had died, as had the bushes that lined the walkway. The flower garden in the area between the walkway and house had died. The paint was chipped and tarnished. It looked more like a criminal's hideaway than anything else.  
  
"Out. You, get up." the woman ordered in the same cold hard voice as the man had as she turned off the car and opened the door. Romulus jumped up and looked about in a startled manner. I looked over and frown slightly as I unclasped the seatbelt and climbed out of the car. Romulus followed, still a bit dazed from being woken up. We were led to the front door.   
  
"You'll be staying here. There's food, there's running water, and there's a few other children there. Live with it. We'll pick you up tomorrow." the woman stated before unlocking the door and shoving them inside. The door slammed behind us. There was no way to open it from inside. There were no windows. There were no other doors. We were trapped.  
  
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To Be Continued  
  
Yes, I know it's short. But that seemed like the perfect cut off point, so suffer. I promise I won't make you wait an eternity for another update! 


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